Dairy Farmer Gives Cows a Winter Break

Most dairy farmers around the Great Lakes region milk their cows all year long. It brings in a steady paycheck and ensures a steady flow of milk to manufacturing plants. Now a small but growing number of farmers give their cows a break during the coldest months. It’s a technique called seasonal dairying. Its supporters say it’s gentler on the cows. It’s easier on the environment. And it gives small dairy farms a future in an industry that’s growing ever bigger. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s David Sommerstein reports:

Transcript

Most dairy farmers around the Great Lakes region milk their cows all year long. It brings in a steady
paycheck and ensures a steady flow of milk to manufacturing plants. Now a small but growing
number of farmers give their cows a break during the coldest months. It’s a technique called seasonal
dairying. Its supporters say it’s gentler on the cows. It’s easier on the environment. And it gives
small dairy farms a future in an industry that’s growing ever bigger. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s David Sommerstein reports:


It’s a chilly winter day in the northern New York town of Denmark. Kevin Sullivan strides into
the barn where his 60 cows munch quietly on their day’s feed.


“In the winter we’re pretty much conventional farmers.”


On conventional farms, cows stay in the barn all year long. The farmer trucks hay and grain into
the barn to feed them. But Sullivan is a grazier. His cows munch on pasture grasses from April
to October. And when they’re inside for winter, he “dries the cows off” for a couple months.
That means they don’t give milk until they start calving in the spring. Sullivan says he first read
an article about what’s called “seasonal dairying” ten years ago.


“I started thinking about it then and I kinda ran it past my wife and she laughed at me and said
‘y’know it’ll never work.'”


The problem with the seasonal system is dairy farmers are used to relying on their monthly milk
check to pay bills. No milk, no check. That took some getting used to.


“The first year was kind of scary ’cause you don’t really have any income for a couple months in
the wintertime but after we made it through that first year, I knew it was going to work pretty
good.”


The reason it works is outside.


Sullivan zips up his jacket and walks out to the barnyard. Unlike most farms, there’s not much
mud, just acres of thick green grass peeking through a dusting of snow.


“Once you get a sod built up like this, you can bring out your cows, I mean, the cows could be out
here today and they’re not going to hurt this pasture at all.”


Grazing is the key to seasonal dairying. You time when your cows give birth to calves and
produce their best milk to coincide with spring and early summer. That’s when pastures grow
the most nutritious grass. Sullivan says it’s a cow’s natural cycle.


Cows were made to eat grass. A lot of people forgot about that, I guess. I would say the two biggest things that
harm a cow is grain and concrete and a lot of guys push grain and the cows are on concrete all
the while but by kicking the cows outside and letting them be on the sod and letting them eat the
grass, you can get rid of about 90% of your cow problems.


In the pasture, they’re less susceptible to foot diseases than cows in a muddy barnyard. And
because grazing cows roam many acres, their manure is spread naturally and fertilizes the land.
A grazing farm typically has less erosion, uses fewer pesticides, and is less polluting to nearby
creeks than a conventional farm, where cows are confined to a small area and the farmer has to
dispose of tons of manure.

The method is easier on the animals and the land. And often easier on the farmer’s wallet too. A
study by the American Farmland Trust finds seasonal dairying can be an economically viable
alternative to conventional farming, especially for small farms like Kevin Sullivan’s. But only one or two percent of farms in the U.S. are seasonal. Brian Petrucci directs the American Farmland
Trust’s farm division.


“At some point in the last twenty years, it was decided that the only way to farm in this country was to get big or
get out.”


Under the tutelage of Ag school extensions, farm herds have swelled from the hundreds to the
tens of thousands. State and federal environmental agencies have had to create new regulations to
contain all the waste the farms generate. At the same time, thousands of small farms have gone
out of business.


Petrucci says seasonal dairying can help reverse the trend. But it’s slow to catch on in part
because the agriculture industry – the companies that supply the farmers – often doesn’t benefit.


“Dairy graziers and others who are operating on a smaller scale are not the consumers of feed
stuffs and farm supplies and farm equipment that the larger farmers are.”


There’s another reason, says Pete Barney of the Cornell Cooperative Extension in St. Lawrence
County, New York. It’s rooted in dairy history in this country.


“Milk plants, milk companies wanted a year-round, constant supply of milk, so now farmers bred
animals so they were coming in periodically throughout the whole year so they could keep a constant
flow of milk going.”


A different system can work on a large scale. Brian Petrucci says in some countries all dairy
farms are seasonal and grazing operations.


Back on the Sullivan farm, Kevin Sullivan says seasonal dairying is also good for his family. The
two months off from milking means more time for his kids, even a vacation, a rare thing among
dairy farmers.


“Farming is, you know, daily grind. Most people get locked into it and they don’t realize that there is
something besides going to the barn and doing chores every day. It’s really kind of opened up
our life a little bit to enjoy our hobbies in the wintertime at least.”


Sullivan’s business is good. He’s invested in an ice cream factory with some neighbors. He says
thanks to grazing and seasonal dairying, his fields are clean and green, his cows are healthy, and
his farm is thriving when so many other small farms are up for sale.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m David Sommerstein.

Encouraging Farmers to Enter Alternative Crop Market

Lawmakers in one state are looking at possible incentives to help farmers expand into the lucrative alternative crop market. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Joyce Kryszak has details:

Transcript

Lawmakers in one state are looking at possible incentives to help farmers expand into the
lucrative alternative crop market. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Joyce Kryszak has
details:


New York once had a robust agricultural industry. But it’s taken some hard hits in recent years,
mainly from falling dairy prices. It’s nudged many farmers out of the business – and left fallow
thousands of acres of fertile soil. But state legislators think there may be a cure in the multi-
billion dollar herbal supplement business. They’re working on a plan that would provide
economic incentives to help farmers establish so called “grow zones” for alternative crops, such
as the popular herbal supplement, ginseng. Jim Hayes is a Western New York Assemblyman.
He says it would be a unique partnership that could reinvigorate the state’s farming industry.


“We’re trying to listen to scientists, and doctors, and farmers, and economic development people
to establish a protocol on how to get this thing started. And certainly it’s an area
that is just expanding nationwide, and we believe we should be capitalizing on here in New York
state.”


He says the program would also benefit consumers by developing high standards and controls for
herbal product purity and potency.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Joyce Kryszak.

Dairy Farmer Gives Cows a Winter Break

Most dairy farmers around the Great Lakes region milk their cows all year long. It brings in a steady paycheck and ensures a steady flow of milk to manufacturing plants. Now a small but growing number of farmers give their cows a break during the coldest months. It’s a technique called seasonal dairying. Its supporters say it’s gentler on the cows, it’s easier on the environment, and it gives small dairy farms a future in an industry that’s growing ever bigger. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s David Sommerstein reports:

Transcript

Most dairy farmers around the Great Lakes region milk their cows all year long. It brings in a steady
paycheck and ensures a steady flow of milk to manufacturing plants. Now a small but growing
number of farmers give their cows a break during the coldest months. It’s a technique called seasonal
dairying. Its supporters say it’s gentler on the cows. It’s easier on the environment. And it gives
small dairy farms a future in an industry that’s growing ever bigger. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s David Sommerstein reports:


It’s a chilly winter day in the northern New York town of Denmark. Kevin Sullivan strides into
the barn where his 60 cows munch quietly on their day’s feed.


“In the winter we’re pretty much conventional farmers.”


On conventional farms, cows stay in the barn all year long. The farmer trucks hay and grain into
the barn to feed them. But Sullivan is a grazier. His cows munch on pasture grasses from April
to October. And when they’re inside for winter, he “dries the cows off” for a couple months.
That means they don’t give milk until they start calving in the spring. Sullivan says he first read
an article about what’s called “seasonal dairying” ten years ago.


“I started thinking about it then and I kinda ran it past my wife and she laughed at me and said
‘y’know it’ll never work.'”


The problem with the seasonal system is dairy farmers are used to relying on their monthly milk
check to pay bills. No milk, no check. That took some getting used to.


“The first year was kind of scary ’cause you don’t really have any income for a couple months in
the wintertime but after we made it through that first year, I knew it was going to work pretty
good.”


The reason it works is outside.


Sullivan zips up his jacket and walks out to the barnyard. Unlike most farms, there’s not much
mud, just acres of thick green grass peeking through a dusting of snow.


“Once you get a sod built up like this, you can bring out your cows, I mean, the cows could be out
here today and they’re not going to hurt this pasture at all.”


Grazing is the key to seasonal dairying. You time when your cows give birth to calves and
produce their best milk to coincide with spring and early summer. That’s when pastures grow
the most nutritious grass. Sullivan says it’s a cow’s natural cycle.


“Cows were made to eat grass. A lot of people forgot about that, I guess. I would say the two biggest things that
harm a cow is grain and concrete and a lot of guys push grain and the cows are on concrete all
the while but by kicking the cows outside and letting them be on the sod and letting them eat the
grass, you can get rid of about 90% of your cow problems.”


In the pasture, they’re less susceptible to foot diseases than cows in a muddy barnyard. And
because grazing cows roam many acres, their manure is spread naturally and fertilizes the land.
A grazing farm typically has less erosion, uses fewer pesticides, and is less polluting to nearby
creeks than a conventional farm, where cows are confined to a small area and the farmer has to
dispose of tons of manure.

The method is easier on the animals and the land. And often easier on the farmer’s wallet too. A
study by the American Farmland Trust finds seasonal dairying can be an economically viable
alternative to conventional farming, especially for small farms like Kevin Sullivan’s. But only one or two percent of farms in the U.S. are seasonal. Brian Petrucci directs the American Farmland
Trust’s farm division.


“At some point in the last twenty years, it was decided that the only way to farm in this country was to get big or
get out.”


Under the tutelage of Ag school extensions, farm herds have swelled from the hundreds to the
tens of thousands. State and federal environmental agencies have had to create new regulations to
contain all the waste the farms generate. At the same time, thousands of small farms have gone
out of business.


Petrucci says seasonal dairying can help reverse the trend. But it’s slow to catch on in part
because the agriculture industry – the companies that supply the farmers – often doesn’t benefit.


“Dairy graziers and others who are operating on a smaller scale are not the consumers of feed
stuffs and farm supplies and farm equipment that the larger farmers are.”


There’s another reason, says Pete Barney of the Cornell Cooperative Extension in St. Lawrence
County, New York. It’s rooted in dairy history in this country.


“Milk plants, milk companies wanted a year-round, constant supply of milk, so now farmers bred
animals so they were coming in periodically throughout the whole year so they could keep a constant
flow of milk going.”


A different system can work on a large scale. Brian Petrucci says in some countries all dairy
farms are seasonal and grazing operations.


Back on the Sullivan farm, Kevin Sullivan says seasonal dairying is also good for his family. The
two months off from milking means more time for his kids, even a vacation, a rare thing among
dairy farmers.


“Farming is, you know, daily grind. Most people get locked into it and they don’t realize that there is
something besides going to the barn and doing chores every day. It’s really kind of opened up
our life a little bit to enjoy our hobbies in the wintertime at least.”


Sullivan’s business is good. He’s invested in an ice cream factory with some neighbors. He says
thanks to grazing and seasonal dairying, his fields are clean and green, his cows are healthy, and
his farm is thriving when so many other small farms are up for sale.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m David Sommerstein.

Grass-Fed Beef Good for Business?

Most of the cattle raised in the Great Lakes region spend their lives in a feedlot, fattening up on corn and other grains before becoming dinner themselves… but there’s a growing number of organic farmers looking at putting their cows in the pasture. They say grass-fed beef is a healthy alternative. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Brad Linder has more:

Transcript

Most of the cattle raised in the Great Lakes region spend their lives in a feedlot, fattening up on
corn and other grains before becoming dinner themselves. But there’s a growing number of
organic farmers looking at putting their cows in the pasture. They say grass-fed beef is a healthy
alternative. Brad Linder has more:


(Sound of cows mooing)


Here on Natural Acres Farm in Millersburg, in Central Pennsylvania, 120 cows have their heads
to the ground. They’re chewing on tender shoots of grass instead of ground corn or some mixture
of grain feed.


Steve Shelley is in charge of marketing beef for Natural Acres. He says cows are designed to eat
grass, but most farmers today find it cheaper and easier to buy commercial feed made from grains
like corn.


“You know farmers nowadays. Well that’s the way their dads did it, so they’re doing the same
thing. It’s much easier to go out and dump a bucket of feed into a pen for that animal to eat than
it is for that animal to be out, to get the best benefit from the soil.”


And Shelley says another reason most farmers use grain feed is that it takes longer to raise cattle
on grass. Grain-fed cows are ready for slaughter within a year, but Natural Acres cows can take
six months to a year longer to reach the same size.


But Shelley says that convenience for the farmer comes at a cost to the cattle. Shelley says cows
raised on corn get sick more often than grass-fed cattle. As preventative measures, cows
traditionally have antibiotics mixed in with their feed and require frequent visits from the
veterinarian.


Cows on organic farms are naturally healthier. And since Shelley’s marketing his product to
consumers interested in “healthier meat,” the animals also don’t receive growth hormones or other
chemicals often found in commercial beef.


Natural Acres runs an organic foods shop on-site. But Shelley says the market for such products
is pretty small in rural Central Pennsylvania. Most of the beef isn’t sold here. Instead, much of it
is shipped to restaurants and stores, where people are willing to pay premium prices.


“In a grocery store, you may pay anywhere from a $1.75/pound to $2.00 for a pound of beef.
Retail, we get $4.09.”


Being able to charge more for beef is only one of the perks to raising cattle on grass. The farmers
who raise grass-fed beef don’t have to pay as much to the veterinarian.


“The animals rarely get sick. And I have talked to hundreds of people who raise animals on
pasture.”


Jo Robinson is author of the book, “Why Grass Fed is Best.” She also runs the website
‘eatwild.com,’ which compiles research on grass-fed cattle.


“The big surprise, I think – and this wasn’t known until about 1998 – is that an animal raised on
pasture has five times the amount of cancer fighting fat called conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA.”


Robinson says CLA helps prevent cows from developing tumors. There is some evidence
suggesting CLA has the same effect on humans, but it’s not yet clear if eating grass-fed beef is a
way for people to fight off cancer.


Robinson does point out that CLA is just one of the reasons there’s a growing demand for grass-
fed beef.


“Some people gravitate towards pasture finished meat because it’s free of hormones and
antibiotics. Some people are aware of the nutritional benefits. They like the fact that it’s lower in
saturated fat, higher in omega 3 fatty acids, higher in vitamin E, and a number of other
substances. It’s simply a healthier product all around.”


Robinson says she first started looking for American grass-farmers in 1997, and only found about
sixty. Now, she says, the market has grown to include at least ten times that number, which still
only represents a small portion of the American Beef Industry.


Paul Slayton is director of the Pennsylvania Beef Council, the non-profit organization charged
with promoting the state’s beef industry. Slayton says less than 1% of the state’s beef production
comes from grass farms. But he says those farms do fill an important role.


“I see it being a very viable part of our production in this part of the country, because we have
such an eclectic consumer group. And there are some consumers that just won’t eat anything else
but organic. And somebody’s going to be providing their food.”


As the beef industry is recovering from public concern over mad cow disease and e. coli bacteria,
Slayton says anything that convinces people meat is safe is fine by him.


And as for the taste of grass-fed beef, Steve Shelley from Natural Acres Farm says it might be
more familiar than many people think.


“Many times when I go and do a taste test at a store or something, a lot of the older people, when
they try it, make the comment: ‘This tastes like beef used to taste.'”


Shelley says the meat is leaner and can be tougher if cows aren’t fed a little grain before slaughter.
But Natural Acres is experimenting with different types of grass that might lend a more
consumer-friendly texture to the beef.


Shelley says it’s a combination of taste and nutrition that gets most people interested, even some
people who had given up on commercial beef altogether. Shelley tells one story about a man
who’s wife had banned meat from their house for five years.


“So he bought a hamburger and finally got her to try it, and at the end of the day, he gave me a high five, and he said, ‘I can eat beef
again! She’s given me permission to bring beef into the house!’ Well, that really makes you feel
good.”


So grass-fed beef is entering households that hadn’t seen any beef in a while for environmental
reasons or because of health concerns. While the beef might be a taste of days gone by, organic
farmers are getting better prices for their meat than even in the best of days past.


(moo moo)


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Brad Linder.

Study Critical of Genetically Modified Crops

A new study claims the U.S. government is losing billions of dollars by allowing farmers to grow genetically modified crops. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jonathan Ahl reports:

Transcript

A new study claims the U.S. Government is losing billions of dollars by allowing farmers to grow
genetically-modified crops. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jonathan Ahl reports:


The study from the British Soil Association reports the U.S. has increased farm subsidies by 12
billion dollars over the past three years to make up for lower exports. Many European countries
will not allow the import of genetically-modified food. They say it hasn’t been proven to be safe
for human consumption. But U.S. farmers refute the report.


Leon Corzine is a Central Illinois corn and soybean farmer. He says a report criticizing the economics of genetically-modified
crops is nothing more than propaganda.


“If bio-tech crops – just like any other item – if it is not economically viable, they don’t last and
we don’t use them. That’s how I operate on my farm.”


Corzine says there are so many variables in the agriculture industry that it’s impossible to blame
one thing for higher subsidies. He also says while some European countries are turning away
U.S. grain, other countries are increasing their import levels.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Jonathan Ahl.